England's involvement in the Under-20 World Cup, for which Mo Marley's squad flew to Chile yesterday for their first group match - against the home nation - is set to cause as much disruption to the Premier League programme as did last year's senior event in China.

Clubs can postpone games if they have two players in the squad and, with six of the top flight's 12 teams affected, the fixture list has been hammered. However, Arsenal will continue to play in what may be a month's hiatus, as the final does not take place until December 7.

But the inevitable fixture congestion is not as important, says Marley, as the development of players is paramount. "There's a bigger percentage of youngsters playing first-team football than in the men's game and it's a compliment to the Under-20 squad that their clubs see them as such big players that they prefer to call games off," she said. "The clubs, and the England senior team, will reap the benefits because taking part can only make the girls better players."

Only one League game was played yesterday, Nottingham Forest winning 3-1 at Fulham. Arsenal won a rescheduled League Cup quarter-final 7-0 at Leicester City and now prepare to complete their Uefa Cup quarter-final, in which they will take a 3-2 advantage to Sweden for Thursday's second leg against Umea.